Haunted or Hunted
by Yeahjusttrash
Summary: Late Halloween-y fic of Ash, Johnny, and Meena going to pick up some props for Moon at a creepy old theater. Things don't go well.
1. Chapter 1

**SO sorry this is so late for Halloween. I see it too late? Have we on moved on to Christmas already? Inman post this anyway. It's too he first multi chapter thing over complicated!**

The "I'm telling ya this is the wrong place!" Johnny insisted as him and Meena followed a curious Ash around the abandoned and poorly cared for property. Moon had sent the three out to an old theater to collect some props the other theater owner no longer needed. After turning off the main road and driving in what seemed like the middle of nowhere for a good 20 minutes, Johnny became suspicious. Once they arrived at the location Google maps had directed them to when he typed the address Moon gave him in, he was convinced there was some mistake. The building they pulled up to vaguely looked like a theater, but it was clearly abandoned and was falling apart. It reminded him of a haunted castle in those mystery cartoons he watched as a kid. The doors and windows were boarded up and as the cherry on top of it all, the sun had long since gone down by the time they arrived and it was shaping up to be a dreary night. Johnny was half expecting an ominous bolt of light to strike behind the building.

Johnny had wanted to turn tails and leave as soon as they got close enough to get a good look at the destination, but Ash insisted they look around.

"What are the odds Moon happened to write down a wrong address that just happened to also be a theater?" Ash reasoned as she examined the boarded up building. "Maybe the owner left the prop out here somewhere. Or maybe there's still inside and were forgotten about." Ash pressed her face up against a widow trying to see in, a giddy smile on her face. "We need to find a way in!"

"Ash." The gorilla sighed, unsure why the porcupine was so taken with the creepy old building. "Come on, there's no way in. Let's just go, yeah?" He tried to reason.

Ash turned to cock an eyebrow at him. "You scared?" She smirked knowing.

"No!" Johnny huffed red-faced.

"Yes!" Meena's answer overlapped Johnny and had no shame. She gave the porcupine a wide-eyed, stricken look. "I'm not exactly jumping at the chance to go in another rickety, falling apart theater." Her voice wavered and and her gaze fell nervously.

Ash stopped for moment and gave her friend a concerned look before shaking her head and giving the elephant an encouraging smile. "Deep breathes, Meena. This place isn't gonna up and fall down on us." Ash's voice was gentle and reassuring as she became sensitive to her large friend's fears. "There's no bear gang or crazy water works show here to knock it down, okay?" Ash got Meena to look up at her and give the porcupine a soft smile.

"Doesn't even look likes its got workin' plumbin'." Johnny added as he gave the building a disapproving look. "Why would ya want t' find a way into this place? From the looks of it, ya' think there be dead bodies stashed here or somethin'."

"As a matter a fact..." Ash dragged out with a huge grin on her face, causing both her companions give look at in slight horror. "I googled the name of this place when we passed a sign for it. Apparently, some goat singer died here 50-some years ago." She said with excitement in her voice as she continued to scan the building for a way in.

"That sounds like a dumb internet rumor." Johnny quipped unconvinced.

"No, seriously! There's like news articles and records and stuff. Her name was Madame Florence Capra and apparently she was murdered here right after a performance." Ash's eyes lite up as she was practically bouncing in spot pressed against the window. "They found her decapitated body, but never found the killer."

The was a brief, horrified silence before Meena spoke up. "That's awful! Is that why this theater is closed?" She gave the building a fearful look.

Ash spoke without looking away from the window. "Naw, it only closed a couple of years ago. But there's a bunch of rumors saying she haunts the place. Some say they saw her headless body walking around back stage! Or that they could hear her screaming!" The porcupine grinned eagerly and pushed back from the window to continue her search for a way in.

Johnny and Meena exchange a disturbed glance. "Ash, can ya maybe not sound so excited 'bout some lady's death?" Johnny asked looking back at the building uneasily. "And, not to be obvious, but ya know there no such thing as ghos-"

"Found a way in!" The larger two heard Ash cut in and looked just in time to see the porcupine squeeze through a missing chunk of a boarded up door.

"Ash!" Meena darted to look through the hole in the door, knowing there was no way her or Johnny would fit.

Johnny grabbed the door handle and tried to push in open, but it felt solidly in place.

"Er, Ash, ya know we can't follow ya, right? The door's boarded up and I think somethin's blocking it." Johnny called out from his side as he sized up the door.

"There's nothing blocking it." Ash's muffled voice commented from the other side. Johnny raised an eyebrow as he look over the door again. It didn't look that sturdy.

After slamming his shoulder against the door twice and wincing in pain a little after the second attempt, Meena nervously voiced. "Uh, Johnny..."

"Nawnawnaw, its fine. Da' worry bout it." He brushed out her concern quickly before she could say anything. He shot the door a glare, taking it as a personal challenge. After half a moment of contemplation, he decided all he needed was a running start.

From the other side of the boarded up door and a good distance away, Ash heard running footsteps, the sound of something slamming against he door, and a groan of painful regret. Ash rolled her eyes as she heard Meena fuss over Johnny to make sure he was okay. Turning on her heels, the porcupine decided she was done waiting and wanted to look around. The interior of the old theater looked just as one would have expected from the outside. It was decaying and covered in dust and cobwebs. Ash squinted and blinked frantically as she turned a corner, both trying to avoid dust in her eyes and adjust to her very dark surroundings. After a few moments of not being able to see anything but shadows and vague shapes; she pulled out her phone, switched the flashlight on, and pointed it in front of her. What she saw made her heart stop.

Frozen in place, all she could was give a short, chilling scream as shock took control. She barely had time register that she wasn't in actual danger before she heard the splintering sound of thick wood being broken and heavy footsteps on creaky floor boards. Meena appeared around the corner skittering to a stop when she found Ash hunched over and silently wheezing with shocked laughter.

The elephant approached slowly trying to decipher what the strained noises Ash was making were. Once Meena realized it was laughter, her panic face morphed into a look of frustration. "Seriously?! I was actually worried about you!" Meena turned to storm back but Ash grabbed her pant leg, the porcupine still trying to gain control her breathing.

Between scattered breaths and laughter, Ash tried to convey what happened and pointed in the direction of what scared her. "I-heh-I promise, I w-wasn't messing with you!" She finally managed to pant out just as Johnny turned the corner to find them. He had previously been frozen gawking at the remains of the boarded up door. After recovering and making a mental note to stay on Meena's good side, he pulled out his phone's flashlight and quickly found the others, with Meena looking rightly ticked off and Ash wheezing and pointing behind. His flashlight flickered up in the direction of Ash's pointing and he and Meena tried to see what it was.

Johnny gave out a very unmanly yipe and Meena's heart stopped dead for a moment. Before them was a huge, ghastly wooden cutout painted to look like a clown bear. The clown had beady yellow eyes and the most unsettled painted smile the three had ever seen

"Wot. The. Hell is the that?!" Johnny stamped out, looking at the clown in something akin to disgust.

"What nightmares are made of." Ash quipped before turning back to Meena. "That's why I screamed. Sorry for scaring you. But hey, look on the bright side. You guys got through the door!"

"She got through the door." Johnny corrected with a smile, jabbing his thumb at Meena. "I got a sore shoulde'."

"Dawww, Meena was worried about meeee!" Ash teased as she leaned on her largest friend's leg affectionately. The elephant wasn't paying either of them any mind, still staring at the clown.

"Why would anyone make that?" Meena wondered out loud as she stared in horrified amazement, her frustration thoroughly scared out of her.

"Right, I'm callin' it. Moon sent us t' the wrong place. Let's get outta here." Johnny jerked his head in the direction them came in as he spoke. Meena nodded eagerly and turn to follow his out.

"Wait, hold on! Can bring this?" Ash said as she went over to the prop to see if it could be moved.

"What? Why would you want to bring that?" Meena's attention was back on Ash as she tried to understand the porcupine's motives.

"To show Moon we tried. We don't want go emptied-handed, right?" Ash reasoned soundly to the puzzled elephant, giving her large friend an innocent smile.

Johnny, however, saw right through it. "Ya' wanna stick that thing in Moon's office and scare the livin' crap outta 'im, don't cha?" He stated exasperatedly.

"Yep!" Ash stood next to the clown expectantly with a huge grin on her face. Meena and Johnny traded looks briefly before Meena sighed and caved, walking over to the prop and an excited Ash.

The prop was heavy, which wasn't normally a problem for Meena, but it was also large and awkwardly shaped, making it difficult for the elephant to get a good hold on it and carry it. She struggled with it for a few moments before she felt Johnny come over and lift the other side. "Just sayin', I'm pretty sure this is theft." Johnny added as he and Meena made slow progress back around the corner.

"You honestly think anyone's gonna miss it?" Ash retorted as she tried not to be underfoot. Johnny didn't answer, his focus on moving the ugly prop and trying to ignore threatening creaking from the floor boards.

They were clear of the corner and about halfway to the door when hear a loud crack. All three froze, wide-eyed and scared to move. Johnny and Meena looked at each each other, realizing then that they were two very large mammals, carrying a very heavy prop, on a very rickety floor. This wasn't good.

After a beat, Ash took a few cautious steps in front of the other two. She then carefully turned around to address them. "Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. Just leave the clown and get away from each other to spread out the weight." Ash's ordered shooing them in opposite directions. Them fumbled briefly trying to carefully set down the prop before it clattered to the floor. All three stiffened and waited once it felt. When nothing creaked or broke, the larger two cautiously stepped backward and away from each other. They only made it a few feet each before a sickening snap came from below Meena as her foot fell through the floor. She yelled in surprise as she fell against the ground. The other two present immediately forgot their plan as they quickly went to help her up, only realizing their mistake too late. Both were within reach of her when more cracking from all around made them aware of their mistake. Before anyone of them could think of what to do, there was the applause of wooden beams breaking and the floor beneath them gave. The trio fell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2! Whats worst than a spook you building? Being trapped in a spook you building!**

To them, it felt like they hit every wooden beam, support and odd bit of cloth on the way down but nothing was strong enough to stop their fall, only break and slow their decent. Finally, Meena hit something something solid and land on her stomach with an 'oof.' Almost immediately, she felt Johnny land heavily on his back on top of her. Half a beat later, she could feel Ash plop on top of Johnny. A chorus of groans emanated from the pile of animals. Johnny was first to make an attempt to get up, helping Ash off of him and on to the ground before quickly turning around to make sure Meena was alright and help her up. While Johnny was busy apologizing profusely for falling on the elephant and said elephant assured him that she was fine, Ash looked up and around at their predicament.

It looked like they had fallen about 30 some feet, or about three stories from what Ash could see. The gaping hole left by them in the floor above was followed by a path of broken beams and other building parts from their fall, none of which looked stable enough to climb back upwards. Looking around, Ash saw they were in a large, meandering basement storage area with a relatively high ceiling. There were tons of old theater props and broken equipment were in large, unkept piles covered haphazardly with worn tarps. It was somehow even dustier down there, so much so that the air was thick with dust. What little light there was came from cracks in the floorboards above and where bits of moonlight fit through. Ash sneezed from the dust and shook her head.

"Welp, doesn't look like we're goin' that way." Johnny huffed out a sigh and he pointed his phone's light up at the wreckage left from their fall. "There's gotta be stairs goin' up somewhere through, right?" He looked over at Ash who was looking around with a dismal look on her face.

"Yeah... yeah, there has to be." She muttered more to herself than to anyone else. Johnny took the lead to find a way out, picking a direction at random, with Meena in tow and Ash close behind.

After wandering around the dank and dreary halls formed on decaying walls piles of junk unfruitfully, Ash got impatient and wanted to take the lead. Johnny begrudging humored her for a bit, but soon after got annoyed they were still getting nowhere. Ash quickly snipped that he hadn't gotten them anywhere either. Johnny snapped that she was the reason they were in this mess in the first place. Emotions were running high considering they were all scared and it was coming out in angry arguing between the rocker and rebel.

"It's not like I forced you to carry the stupid clown out!" Ash hissed

Johnny grumbled back. "Well I wasn't gonna leave Meena to deal with it! Even though she shoulda' just left it-"

"Where is Meena?" Ash's sour mood stopped short, wide eyed at the fact Meena was not in sight. Johnny looked back and froze.

"...Meena?" Suddenly, Johnny's voice seemed to echo more in a way that made his stomach drop and the dark area seemed so much scarier to the two. "Meena!" He shouted with more force and panic in his voice. He was a rational animal, but being trapped in a creepy old building that looked like it was straight out of a horror film, alleged to be haunted, and losing a member of their group was quickly becoming too much for his nerve to handle.

"Meenaaaaa? Come on, this isn't funny!" Ash called out and she meandered back the way they had came. "We're sorry for fighting!"

Trying to remain calm, the two double back, their voices loud and unrestrained as their fear built up in them.

Suddenly, a massive form appeared behind them and swiftly grabbed them from behind. Both their heart stopped dead the moment two strong hands covered their mouths and wrenched them back. Ash was yanked off the ground and kicked the air helplessly. Johnny was able to put more of a fight but was clearly out sized. The two struggled and tried to scream through their covered mouths until a familiar voice hissed at them. "Will you guys shut up?!" Meena had pulled them back against her so her harsh whisper only made it to their ears and didn't cause an echo. Johnny and Ash stopped struggling, both out of relief it was Meena and shock at her gripping tone. Meena shifted so was properly carrying Ash and not holding the porcupine hostage and released Johnny as well, hoping they both got silencing look she was shooting them through all the darkness. Noise in the distance made her ears flare up and grab Johnny's sleeve to pull the gorilla with her and Ash around a corner just as the noises got close enough for the other to hear.

Both Johnny and Ash were confused as to why they were hiding, but neither had the chance to speak up before they heard approaching voices.

"They were coming from over here!" An unfamiliar and frantic voice called out.

Another, gruffer voice answered. "It was probably just pipe breaking. Again."

"No! I'm telling you I heard voices this time! And they were at least two! I know there's someone else down here!"

Meena had a death grip on the other two. Johnny was listening intensity, trying to figure out what anyone would be doing down there. Ash was trying to wrap her heard around why they were hiding in the first place. If there were others down there with them, the means there's was a way in and out which the others must know about. So why were they hiding and not asking for help? Ash knew Meena was nervous around strangers, but this seemed excessive to the porcupine.

That last thought died in Ash's head when she heard the mechanical clinking of a gun being cocked. All three stiften, now well aware of the real danger they were in.

Out of the blue, another sneering voice called out from farther away. "What the hell are you morons doin'?" The new voice bombed with authority.

"Sorry, boss. Sammie said he heard something again." The gruffer voice droned in a bored tone.

"I did hear something!" Sammie insisted desperately. "I know I did! That's the whole reason you hired me!"

"Yeeeah," The boss spoken in a chilling tone. "I hired a jackrabbit to keep an ear out and not let anything surprise us." He pause in a menacing manner. "And yet all you've done is send out false alarms and waste my time. You're lucky the jobs already over Sammie-boy, cuz I've just about had it with you." The leader seemed to growl out the last bit, then their heard retreating foot steps with one final order. "Now get get back to work and start being useful."

The other two voice followed their boss, leaving three horrified teenagers afraid for their lives. Ash was the first to speak, her words coming out as sharp, fearful whispers. "What the hell was that about? Why did he have a gun?!"

Meena carefully put the porcupine on the ground as she explained. "I think they're hiding something here. Earlier I heard what sounded kinda like drilling. When I tried to find where it came from, I saw them digging up a bunch dirt like they were trying to bury something." She looked down nervously. "I didn't get a good look at what they looked like, through. I saw the guns, panicked, and came looking for you guys."

All color had gone from Ash's face. "Oh my god, there actually stashing bodies here!" She squeaked out in dread.

Meena looked doubtful. "They were calling it a 'hot stash.'" The elephant added, hoping that meant something to one of the others.

Johnny whisper from where he was focused on his phone. "M'kay, so it's not bodies then. They're just hidin' somethin' that they stole and can't sell yet. Or maybe they're diggin' up something they stole awhile back." Glaring at his phone, he sighed angrily. He had already checked to see if he could get a signal and knew it was hopeless, but he had hoped by some miracle, he might be able to call or contact someone. He had no such luck. None of them had had any service since stepping foot into the cursed building. "Right, we can't just go walkin' around 'ere lookin' for a way out. Meena, when ya' hear 'em start drillin' again we'll go back to the hole we fell through." He hushed.

Ash gave him a puzzled look. "Johnny, there's no way we can all get up that way! I'm not even sure any of us-"

"We don't all have to." Johnny cut off Ash's whispering with his own. "We just need one of us to make it up and get to where they can call someone. The others just need to hold out til help comes." It was a very flawed plan and Johnny knew it, but it was the best he had at the moment. He looked at Ash half expecting her to argue or shoot down his plan with a better one, but she must have also been coming up blank because she just gave a little nod. Meena's ears were already flared out and she was clearly concentrating on listening to the gangsters' operation.

After a minute, Meena gave a little nod. "They're drilling again." She breathed out. Ash peaked around the wall they were hidden behind them motioned the others to follow her. A few suspenseful minutes later, they were back below the gaping hole in the floor above, squinting up through dust filled air skeptically.

It was just as they had left it, dangerously rickety and what wood remained intact look precarious at best. There was no clear path up, just a lot of unstable looking wooden bits that one could theoretically climb up. It was incredibly unsafe looking, so Johnny of course volunteered himself to do it in the hopes of keeping his friends from harm. Fifteen or so strenuous minutes later, Johnny was less than half way up and not make great progress.

"He's not gonna make it." Ash quipped plainly.

"He can still do it." Meena argued absentmindedly, her attention split between worriedly watching Johnny and listening to ensure the gangsters were still drilling. They both got their breath caught in their throats when Johnny's grip slipped and he was left dangling by one hand. To make matters worse, the chuck of wood he had been holding came loose and fell all the way to the concert floor below with an echoing clatter. All three tensed and waited silently.

After a moment Meena began to relax and whispered to over to Ash. "I think we're okay. There's still-" She froze mid sentence, her ears flared out more and her face filled with dread. "The drilling stopped."

Ash went wide-eyed and gave a panicked look up. She knew Johnny won't make it before they had company and waved him to come down. Making a split moment decision, she gave an order. "Meena, throw me."

"... Come again?"

As Johnny was trying to make something between a rushed and carefully quiet way down again, he heard a whoosh and what sounded like a muffled squeaked of surprise. Snapping his head back upwards, he looked just in time to see Ash airborne and land haphazardly on the slanted piece of wood at the edge of the hole. Both he and Meena held their breath while they saw Ash struggle to find anything to grab on to as she slid backwards on the slanted wood. She scratched at it with her claws frantically before quickly pulling out a quill and stabbing the wood with it. She stopped sliding backwards and breathed a sigh of relief before yanking out another quill and using them to scale up the wood on to more sturdy flooring. Once on stable ground, she turned to look back at her friends and watch as Johnny practically fall the last few feet down. He was barely able to regain balance and stand properly before Meena grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her as she ran out of Ash's sight. Ash's heart was pounding as she starred desperately at where her friends had just been before shaking her head and forcing herself to focus. Shakily, the porcupine turned and ran frantically for the exit hoping her weight didn't cause noticeable creaking. 'You two better still be alive when I get back!' She worried to herself as her running synced up with her pounding heart rate.

 **who knew porcupines could fly? Let see see how these three manage now that there spilt up.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's part 3! Things are getting intents!**

Meena had heard faint sounds of someone approaching and had grabbed Johnny as soon as he was within reach to drag him out sight of the of whoever was coming. Once they had ducked around a decrepit wall, she hesitated and Johnny took the lead. He didn't have any more clue of where to go or what to do than her, and ended up hiding them amidst a number of large piles of equipment parts in a particularly shadowy corner. Cramped together and facing one another, both were two scare to try and make a get away out of fear of making noise. Both were focused on trying to hear the gangsters, Johnny much less successfully than Meena judging from the strained look on his face. Meena gave it a sparing glance as she tried not to let her mounting panic take control. She had to stay focused. She wasn't sure just how sensitive the rabbit's hearing was or how it rivaled with hers but she wasn't taking any chances, their main advantage right now was that they were trying to keep quiet while the two approaching animals were speaking without fear of being heard. From what she could hear, Sammie was with the gruffer sounding animal (whom she had heard be called Chuck) and was once again trying to convince Chuck they weren't alone. She strained to hear the details of Sammie's frantic babbling, but her concentration was interrupted by Johnny's whisper.

"Wot's goin' on? Can ya' hear anythin'?" His curiosity finally got the better of him and poor gorilla couldn't hear anything useful.

Meena blinked at him a few times before once again putting all her effort into listening. "I can only hear two of them. The rabbit and I think the other's a sheep, I keep hearing bleating." She reportedly diligently in a soft voice, slightly frustrated she couldn't said anything more useful. "I don't know if they have any guns or anything. But their not very close ye-"  
"WHAT THE-" Both teens froze up at the exclamation that was plenty loud enough for both to hear. "When did _this_ happen!" The rougher voice bellowed out. Johnny felt his stomach drop as he realized the thug was right where they had been and was almost definitely referring to the massive hole where the trio had fallen through the floor. Wide eyed, he looked up at Meena and saw the same look of dread on her face.

"I told you!" Sammie was practically screeching. "I told you I heard something was going on! But nooooo! You were all 'it's just an old building, Sammie,' 'You're overreacting, Sammie,' 'Boss'll be mad if we don't finish working, Sammie.' Well how mad do ya think he'll be if someone got down here and found out about-" The rabbit was shushed and the two gangsters started talking in more hushed tones.  
Johnny couldn't hear a thing they were saying and gave up quickly opting to instead trying to see if he could read Meena well enough to clue himself in on what she was hearing. Her scared, still expression didn't tell him much and did nothing to ease his nerves. His hands were shaking as he tried to keep a level head, but fear was tampering with his rational. What was the rabbit going to say before being cut off? What if he been wrong earlier and they really were hiding bodies or something sinister? Johnny took a shaky breath and wished is father were there with them. The gang leader gorilla would know what to and probably wouldn't even be phased by the creepy building or whatever these lesser gangsters were hiding. As it was, Big Daddy was not there and all Johnny had was himself on the brink of a panic attack and Meena whom, for all her good qualities, wasn't a very calm animal to begin with. Johnny mentality steadied himself, reminding his scattered brain that they just had to hold out until Ash came back with help. He glanced back up at Meena to check on her. To his surprise, the frightful look on her face had been replace with one of interest. Prompted be curiously, he leaned in, silently asking what she was hearing.  
After a moment more of careful listening, Meena whispered. "They're really superstitious." She hushed hoping this was something they could use. "The rabbit said something about ghosts being here."

Johnny gathered up his courage and peeked around the edge of the wall. "Well maybe we can scare 'em off 'n buy us some time." He breathed as he looked around. He could see the vague shadows of two figures in the distance and counted his blessing the two dangerous animals were in a place where they could see him. Yet.

His eyes had long since gotten use to the dark and he could see a few more details about their surroundings. One thing that caught his eye was the thick and falling apart piping that was lining the walls. His eyes followed the pipes over them, an idea formulating in his head. It was interrupted be the sound of the two figures getting close. Johnny yanked himself back so he was properly hidden behind the wall, panic starting to rise. He glanced around and up when that idea that had been trying to get to him finally struck. Looking up, he saw a piece of piping that was disconnected. Nudging Meena to silently get attention, which had be focused on praying to whatever powers might be listening, he shot her clever smile and pointing up to the piping. Meena gave him a confused look, but still complied and reach her trunk up to retrieve the bit of piping. It creaked louder than either liked as the elephant maneuvered the pipe end down, but nevertheless, Johnny got ahold of it and brought it close to his face. He waited for a minute, trying to listen and figure out how close the two gangsters were to them.

A ghastly groaning sound echoed throughout the dingy part of the basement the gangsters were searching. Both thugs jumped and their anxiousness skyrocketed. "W-w-w-what was that?!" Sammie stuttered, his voice a few octaves higher than normal

"It was probably nothing." Chuck's response lacked sureness. Just then, another bone chilling groan rattled the very piping of the old theater storage, sounding as though it was coming from everywhere all at once.

Sammie looked around frantically before shaking his head. "Oh hell no! I'm not dyin' here! Not me, not today!" He all but muttered to himself as he hurriedly doubled back, Chuck silently following close behind.

From his hiding place around one of the walls, Johnny moved the piping away from his mouth and placed a hand over the opening. He chuckled soften to himself when he heard the two thugs practically scream from fright. If his life hadn't been in danger, he would have considered this fun. Meena was listening almost gleefully, smiling for the first time since entering the retched building. She caught Johnny's attention and gave him a million watt smile. "They're leaving! They're going back to the dig site!" She her voice was a little louder and less restrained as relief rushed through her. Johnny leaned around the edge of the wall again to watch their retreating shadows. "They'll probably be back soon. We need a game plan." Despite being incredibly relieved to see the other two animals leave, he stayed focused. Johnny wasn't about to lose sight of how dangerous their situation was. He turned back to face Meena. "Right, think we should find a bette' place to hide or try to find a way out?"

"We could go back to the hole. Maybe you can make it up before they get back." Meena offered. Johnny gave her an perplexed look, trying to figure out why she'd suggest that. After a moment of processing, he spoke up. "... But you'd still be here."  
"Better than both of us being stuck down here." She reasoned shyly as she wrung her hands. Guilt had long since settled in her stomach, and an evil little voice in the back of her mind blamed her for this hold ordeal. She had been one to cause the floor to break. And now Johnny was trapped down here with her despite having a fighting chance of climbing out. It was just like flooded theater incident all over again. 'You got stuck and nearly drowned everyone! Now you've fallen into this mess and dragged your friends with you. If it weren't your fat ass,-'  
"No." The mean little voice was silenced by Johnny's sure voice. Both to Meena's relief and disappointment, continued. "No way in hell I'm leavin'. Will figure somethin' else out, yeah?" He words had a harsh edge to them, as if scolding her for having even suggesting it. The stern glare he was giving her clue her in that he would probably shoot down any idea that involved them being separated. Meena's gaze fell out to the side sheepishly. She glanced around breifly before her ears flared out as an inspiration hit.  
"I have an idea." 

The idea had been fairly straightforward; use the creepy old props and whatnot in the basement to make it seem haunted, scare the superstitious gangsters away from the building, use their method of escaping to leave the building. When the two teenagers started looking around, they equally amazed and disturbed at the props they were able to find. They put their experience as stagehands to good use, quickly setting up ugly wooden cut outs around every turn. Johnny climbed up on some wooden supports above to hang chains that he could shake ominously while Meena used her hearing to make sure no one was close./span/div  
div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"span style="text-align: center;"As soon as she heard approaching footsteps, she signaled Johnny who was sat up on a wooden beam and hidden in shadows. From his hiding spot, Johnny could see Meena below where she was hidden from the gangsters behind piles of discarded machine pieces and other odds and ends, but he couldn't see the gangsters themselves. That was probably a good thing, it meant he was most likely out of their sight as well. With the pipe end positioned up next to him and chains well with in his reach, the gorilla was all set up to give those thugs the scare of their lives. Johnny leaned over and cupped his hands around the pipe end, giving a low, ghostly sounding groan. He heard a couple of surprised yelps from far off a grinned. He glanced down and saw Meena smiling as well before she waved another signal at him.  
This continued for a good few minutes, and Johnny really was getting into it. He started putting more of his body weight into shaking the chains hung up and was confident the two thugs were close to there breaking point. Unfortunately, so was the wooden support he was sat on. With out warning, there was a sudden snap from under him and the gorilla yelled as he fell, clattering in the cruelly ungiving cement floor below.  
"Johnny!" Meena gasped and at side in a heartbeat, picking him off the floor and straining in the poor light to check him for injury.  
The fall had knocked the wind out of the gorilla but hadn't done much damage, and was currently the least of his problems. "Over there!" Johnny just barely heard a voice coming in their direction and hoped against hope he heard wrong. One glance at Meena's terror stricken face made it clear he had not. The nook that Meena have hidden in had had many barriers as to keep her out of sight, but now it met they were trapped. As running footsteps came their way, Johnny accepted his fate and stood up defensively in front of Meena, as if he could somehow shield her from whatever was about to come next. Heart pounding like a jackhammer, Johnny mentality prepared himself for what was coming, his whole body went shaking in full on 'fight or flight' mode when he saw two vaguely shaped shadows from around the bend getting closer and closer. He held his breath was tense up in anticipation for whatever was going to happen.  
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Both teens jumped at the sound of a frightful scream. Squinting in what little light there was, they saw the shadows scatter into shapeless movement, neither able to make out what was going on. Johnny heard something clatter to the floor as if someone was knocking stuff over and heard general panicked commotion.  
"...wot's goin' on?" He finally whispered to Meena. Looking behind him, he saw the elephant looked just as befuddled as him.  
"I don't know. I just hear a lot of screaming and bleating. Wait, hang on, ...they're running away again." Her face scrunched up in confusion and concentration as she softly spoke. Her mind tried to piece together what on earth scared the thugs off. She focused on listening as hard as she could for a few more seconds before her attention was stolen and her eyes suddenly lite up. She looked at Johnny with a beaming smile that nearly split her face. "I hear sirens!"

 **Nice to know that their skills at Moon theater of sneaking around back stage an der using special effects helped them out here. Next, let's check on Ash!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ash thanked the powers that be when she saw the one bar of service on her phone. She was out of the building and most of the way to Johnny's car when she saw it. Which was good cause she didn't realize until she was nearly at the car that she couldn't drive it away, she didn't have the keys or the ability to reach the petals with her short legs. Nevertheless, her shaking hands managed to dial 911 and her scattered words got the address and situation through to the poor, confused animal on the other end.

Twenty painstakingly long minutes later, Ash saw the flashing blue and red light approaching. What happened next was a blur of police radios and officers setting up to block the gangsters from making a run for it. An cheetah officer kept Ash behind one of the cars with her as the porcupine intensely watched the other officers go in. Ash almost screeched with delight when she caught sight of a familiar lighting bolt green sweater, followed by a glint of baby was close behind. Meena and Johnny were being led out by officers with their hands behind their heads. Ash was jumping behind the cop car. "That's them! Those are my friends! They're not dangerous! They were the ones in trouble!" Ash grabbed the cheetah's arm as she babbled almost desperately. The cheetah glance at her before waving the officers with the other two teens over. As soon as the larger two teens were told they could put their arms down, Ash threw herself at them to hug them. The three were a mess of hugs and teary relief.

"We're bring three more out." The police radio scratched out. The trio separated a bit while still staying close to one another to watch the gangsters as they were bought out and led to police cars. The officers brought out a glaring kangaroo, soon followed by a jackrabbit and large wolf, all of whom were already in handcuffs.

As the walked by to be stuffed into police cars, the kangaroo growled to himself. "Twenty grand. I pay you both twenty grand each and ya get outsmarted by a couple of kids." He shot deathly glares at his hired help as he was pushed into a nearby police car.

Ash grinned proudly as she heard this, but both Johnny and Meena looked concerned. "Excuse me, officer?" Meena got the attention of a rhino cop near by. "Are you sure that's everyone who was inside?"

The rhino tilted his head to the side as he spoke. "That's everyone we've found. Did you see anyone else in there?" He cocked an eyebrow at Meena and she pulled her ears close to her face and shook her head a little.

"Chief, we found what they were digging up!" A bull called out and the cheetah looked up. The bull came over with a dirt cover brief case. All three teens looked over with interest from where they were huddled together. The case opened with a click and Johnny immediately shut in his tight, his imagination getting too carried away with what it might be.

After hearing a small gasp, he tenses up and started talking. "Wot is it? Is it body parts." His voice was rushed and slightly panicked. Judging from that fact he could hear Ash snickering at him, he was guessing it wasn't body parts. Peeking an eye open, he saw the case was completely full white crystal looked things.

"They kinda' look like uncut diamonds." Meena thought out loud.

"Indeed they are. Good eye." The cheetah grinned. Meena smiled shyly and felt her ears pull close to her head again, bashful from the chief's praise. Closing up the case, the cheetah continued. "We're going to have to keep you three around for questioning, but after that you're free to go-"

"How ya do?!" All three teens jumped at the shrill voice and turned to see the rabbit and wolf by the police car next to them. Chuck, the wolf, was being shoved in first and the rabbit was looking right at them, his hands behind his back and an officer behind him.

After a moment, Johnny tried to answer. "Wot, ya mean the noises and whatnot? We just snuck around and used pipes 'n chains." He shrugged a little with a gloating smile.

The rabbit looked entirely unsatisfied with that answer. "What about the goat, huh?!" His voice was desperate and demanding.

Johnny and Meena both looked confused. "The wot?"

"The goat! That-th-that screaming headless go-"

"Okay, that's enough." The rhino officer behind Sammie had lost his patience and took his turn to stuff the rabbit into the cop car as the three teens watch.

Ash had a huge grin plasters on her face. "Damn, you guys really scare the hell out of him." She chuckled and turned to look up at her friends, asking causally. "So how _did_ ya pull it off?"

She was meet with two blank, **horrified** looks. Both were still staring at where the rabbit had just been, unblinking and unmoving. Ash's smile slowly faltered as she looked between the two and suddenly had a very unsettling feeling.

True to the cheetah chief's promise, the three teens were thoroughly questioned and sent on their way home. During the drive back, the three sat in a heavy silence, save for the sound of the trucks tires on the gravelly road. Each was completely wrapped up in their own thoughts.

After a long while, Ash's voice finally broke the silence. "At least it was on our side." The porcupine thought out loud, getting the other two passenger to look her way.

"Wot you goin' on about?" Johnny asked lightly, quickly glancing at her before returning to the road ahead.

"The ghost." Ash calmly brought up what they were all thinking about. "It didn't show up or do anything until you guys were in trouble, right? It helped you guys out so maybe it was on our side." She reasoned coolly as she stared ahead with heavy eyes. The porcupine's comments brought a soft smile to Meena's features and caused all of them to relax a little. They fell back into silence, but this time it was a comforting silent. All three felt a little better.

 **Welp, that's all folks. Hope you liked it!**


End file.
